Orbital refueling (AW&ST Aug. 10, p. 32) is gaining more attention than it deserves. In theory, launching propellants on a cargo-rated vehicle is cheaper than on a human-rated vehicle. In practice, however, costs and launch complications for a second launcher exceed the difficulty of up-sizing a clean-sheet booster design. Given such a choice, both NASA and the Soviets chose massive single launchers for their 1960s lunar programs.
Ronald Colunga (see photo) has become vice president-maintenance, repair and overhaul for M7 Aerospace of San Antonio. He was vice president-business development support for MRO for Safran USA, Arlington, Va.
Europe’s EADS Astrium has hired Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) to launch an Earth-observation satellite on the California company’s planned Falcon 1e rocket. The spacecraft, to be designed either by Astrium or its Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd. small-sat subsidiary, will fly on an “enhanced” version of the Falcon 1 launch vehicle, with upgraded structures, avionics and propulsion. The European company is the second customer announced for the Falcon 1e, which is already set to launch 18 second-generation mobile telecom satellites for Orbcomm (AW&ST Sept.
A mid-year update of Aviation Week’s Top-Performing Companies (TPC) rankings confirms the global economic downturn is impacting the aerospace and defense industry’s operating results—and its profits. Of 41 publicly traded companies with revenue of at least $1 billion, all but eight saw their TPC scores decline during the first six months of 2009, extending a slide that began in the second half of 2008.
MBDA is pushing ahead with several programs at the heart of the Team Complex Weapons project, having finally secured the second year of funding for the U.K.’s effort to consolidate and develop its guided-weapons sector. The U.K. and France last week signed off on the next phase of a proposed collaborative helicopter-launched anti-ship missile, one of the projects which underpin the Team Complex Weapons initiative (see p. 44).
The FBI is concerned by the leap in this calendar year of laser attacks on aircraft. The agency had recorded 921 attacks as of Aug. 31. One convicted offender, Dana C. Welch, of Orange County, Calif., will be sentenced Sept. 15 in federal court for lasing United Airlines and Alaska Airlines aircraft on May 21, 2008. A United crewman suffered “flash blindness,” a temporary condition, as a result.
Edward N. Kelly has been appointed director of image information solutions for tactical development for the ITT Space Systems Div. , Rochester, N.Y. He was a program manager in the Advanced Engineering and Sciences Div. of ITT Defense. Honors and Elections
A 123-sec. hot-fire test Sept. 10 of the first full-scale motor built for NASA’s planned Ares I crew launch vehicle produced good data and set a baseline for future testing. But it is far from certain that those tests will be conducted as planned. The test at Alliant Techsystems’ static-fire facility in Promontory, Utah, produced 3.6 million lb. thrust, and generated data for 46 different objectives with 650 different sensors on the 154-ft.-long, 12-ft.-dia. motor, which is a five-segment version of the four-segment boosters that power the space shuttle off the pad.
Senators and representatives will get a chance to respond to the recommendations of the Review of U.S. Human Space Flight Plans Committee this week, with back-to-back hearings on the panel’s findings. Chief among them is the conclusion that NASA won’t be able to get human beings out of low Earth orbit without about $3 billion a year more than it’s getting for exploration, and even then it probably won’t be able to meet the ambitious back-to-the-Moon goals of its current program.
Helicopter community leaders found few surprises in the National Transportation Safety Board’s 19 recommendations regarding civil medevac operations, but some expressed surprise that federal Medicare and Medicaid payments were included. Board member Robert Sumwalt chaired hearings Feb. 3-6 on helicopter emergency medical service (HEMS), since those operators have suffered a high accident rate—85 mishaps with 77 fatalities in the past six years, with 13 of those accidents and 29 fatalities occurring in 2008.
The World Trade Organization’s first, preliminary ruling in the Airbus vs. Boeing subsidy disputes marks an important point in the transatlantic battle over government support to commercial aircraft makers. The WTO’s preliminary ruling has been available only to the involved parties, so most of what has been said publicly about the 1,000-page report has been cast to fit agendas of those with a stake in the outcome (see p. 30). Nonetheless, we can say the import lies not in the specifics but in how the WTO ruling should help focus policymakers on larger issues.
Mark S. Long has been appointed chief financial officer of XOJET Inc. , San Carlos, Calif. He was a managing director at Skyworks Capital and had been vice president-finance at Northwest Airlines.
Michael K. Young has been named to the board of directors of SkyWest Inc. He succeeds W. Steve Albrecht, who has resigned. Young is president of the University of Utah and was dean of the George Washington University Law School.
Carlos Eduardo Camargo has become director of external communications for Brazil-based Embraer . He was head of investor relations and has been succeeded by Andre Gaia, who was head of financing for commercial and business aircraft customers. Camargo succeeds Rosana Dias, who has resigned.
Saab management has laid out a new corporate structure that will take effect Jan. 1. The company hopes it will have a better connection with its core markets by setting itself up in five units: Aeronautics, Dynamics, Electronic Defense Systems, Security and Defense Solutions, and Support and Services. The company also is creating the post of chief marketing officer.
The human spaceflight review panel heads to Capitol Hill this week, where Chairman Norman Augustine will outline why the group finds NASA’s human-exploration program untenable (see p. 36). But panel members aren’t any happier with that conclusion than the civil servants and contractor employees working on the Ares I crew launch vehicle, Altair lunar lander and other projects likely to bite the dust as a result.
The Russian defense ministry is continuing to fund high-speed propulsion research, with ongoing development of test hardware for ramjet/scramjet engines. Work is also being undertaken into the utility of pulse-detonation engine concepts.
Development work on General Electric’s new Walter M601-based H80 turboprop engine is being boosted by the award of Czech Republic government research grants valued at around $4 million. The grants are the first given to GE, which acquired part of Walter Engines in 2008. GE Aviation’s Czech-produced H80 will be more powerful than the baseline M601 and have 7.5% better fuel efficiency plus an increased temperature margin. GE says this will enhance hot-day takeoff performance and high-altitude cruise speeds, while helping to extend service life to 3,600 hr.
Sea Launch is struggling to stay afloat amid continued order cancellations and growing concern about the impact its demise would have on launch capacity. Last week, Eutelsat shifted its big W7 spacecraft from Sea Launch to International Launch Services, adding to five other payloads that have moved over to ILS in the months before and since Sea Launch filed for protection from creditors under Chapter 11 in June.
A U.S. Air Force KC-10 is visible through the glare of the cockpit canopy of an F-15B, which is taking position under and behind the KC-10 in preparation for refueling. The cost to maintain the USAF aerial refueler fleet—KC-10s and KC-135s—is growing dramatically. A draft request for proposals kicking off a new duel between Boeing and Northrop Grumman/EADS for the KC-X tanker replacement contract is expected as early as this month (see p. 56). James Haseltine photo.
The German navy will now likely begin funded study work on a limited upgrade for its AgustaWestland Lynx Mk88 helicopter in 2010, say industry executives, as budget constraints stymied ambitions to begin earlier. The navy is looking at replacing the Lynx’s anti-ship missile armament, and at the same time upgrading the radar on the helicopter. The program is understood to be being driven mainly by concerns about the age of the navy’s Sea Skua anti-ship missile.
Jim McQueeney has become president/chief operating officer of St. Louis-based LMI Aerospace Inc. He was vice president-materiel for the Gulfstream Aerospace Corp., Savannah, Ga.
Former astronaut Ken Bowersox has been appointed vice president of the Astronaut Safety and Mission Assurance Dept. of Space Exploration Technologies , Hawthorne, Calif. He was director of the Johnson Space Center’s Flight Crew Operations Directorate and an independent aerospace consultant, serving on several NASA standing review boards.
NASA astronaut Nicole Stott, who will stay on the International Space Station until at least November as the newest member of its crew, helps replace an ammonia-coolant tank during the first of three extravehicular activities (EVAs) during the space shuttle Discovery’s STS-128 mission to the orbiting laboratory. The 13 members of the combined shuttle and station crews transferred 18,548 lb.
